Official Site of the Arizona Colleen Pageant

The Colleen Pageant is a heritage pageant that started in 1983. It is open to single women of Irish ancestry ages of 18 through 27 years old. Every year in February the Arizona Colleen is chosen, and she and her court reign over the St. Patrick’s Day Parade and the Faire which follows. Along with the crown and the title “Arizona Colleen” the winner is also awarded jewelry, $1,000.00 in scholarships, and a free trip to Ireland.

For the first time in 2008 and in honor of our 25th anniversary, the Arizona Colleen participated as the Arizona Rose in the Rose of Tralee program. The 2009 Arizona Colleen will compete as the Arizona Rose at the 50th Anniversary of the Rose of Tralee International Festival in Tralee, County Kerry. It is televised and offers a world tour as part of the prize package.

The Pageant’s organizers are the St. Patrick's Day Parade and Faire Committee. The goal is to promote awareness among young people of their Irish community and culture and to get them interested and involved in the many activities and events happening in the Irish communities here in the Valley and throughout the state.

The 2008 Colleen Pageant had 11 lovely, talented and articulate young ladies who brought Irish pride to the fore as they entertained the crowd of more than 240 proud family and community members. Each contestant was sponsored by a local business or organization.

Anyone wishing additional information about the pageant should visit the contact page.

Origin of Rose of Tralee

The Rose of Tralee
By William Pembroke Mulchinock

The pale moon was rising above the green mountains,
The sun was declining beneath the blue sea,
When I strayed with my love by the pure crystal fountain,
That stands in the beautiful Vale of Tralee.

She was lovely and fair as the rose of the summer,
Yet 'twas not her beauty alone that won me.
Oh no, 'twas the truth in her eyes ever dawning
That made me love Mary, the Rose of Tralee.

The cool shades of evening their mantle were spreading,
And Mary all smiling was listening to me.
The moon through the valley her pale rays was shedding,
When I won the heart of the Rose of Tralee.

She was lovely and fair as the rose of the summer,
Yet 'twas not her beauty alone that won me.
Oh no, 'twas the truth in her eyes ever dawning
That made me love Mary, the Rose of Tralee.

In the far fields of India 'mid war's dreadful thunders,
Her voice was solace and comfort to me.
But the chill hand of death has now rent us asunder,
I'm lonely tonight for the Rose of Tralee.

She was lovely and fair as the rose of the summer,
Yet 'twas not her beauty alone that won me.
Oh no, 'twas the truth in her eyes ever dawning
That made me love Mary, the Rose of Tralee.

The Story of the Rose of Tralee Mary O'Connor lived in the middle of Tralee town, in Brogue Lane, which took its name from the broguemakers (or shoemakers) who lived and worked there. Mary lived in a thatched cabin with her parents, sisters Brigid and Ellen and younger brother Willie. Her father was a broguemaker, and her mother worked as a dairymaid. Mary was very beautiful; she had long dark hair and soft, shining eyes.

Her status as the daughter of a broguemaker and dairymaid meant Mary was destined for work as a maid or house-help. When she was 17 she secured employment as a kitchen maid for the Mulchinock household in Tralee.

The Mulchinocks were a wealthy family of merchants who owned a wool and linen draper's shop on the site of what is now Heaton's department store in Tralee.

Michael Mulchinock had married Margaret McCann and they lived in the grand Mulchinock house, West Villa. The family owned a considerable amount of land around the house and the neighbourhood, as well as property in town. They had servants, coachmen, gardeners and farmhands.

Michael died of a fever in 1828, so Margaret Mulchinock was head of the household when Mary O'Connor started working in the kitchens of West Villa. Also living in the house were Margaret's sons William Pembroke, Edward, Henry and her married daughter Maria.

Mary O'Connor was delighted to be given employment at West Villa, and soon Margaret's daughter, Maria, seeing that Mary was intelligent and kind to her children asked her to be maid to her daughters Anne and Margaret.

Margaret Mulchinock's sons had grown to be young men and William was becoming a dreamer. In the eyes of his family he was good-for-nothing, and even worse: a poet.

In November 1840 Henry, William's younger brother, died. William was inconsolable as he was closer to William than his more practical brother Edward. He wrote a poem about his feelings:

For him of the fair young brow I weep,
Who takes in the churchyard now his sleep;
For he was the star above sun-bright,
That tinged with the light of love my night.

It wasn't long before William met his sister's new nursemaid. As soon as he saw Mary he was transfixed by her eyes, her grace, her long dark hair and delicate skin.

Mary and William began to meet each other every day by the well in the grounds of West Villa that looked out over the sea and mountains. Sometimes they walked down Lover's Lane or up to Clahane to dance.

One night beneath the pale, silvery moon William asked Mary to marry him. However, William's family disapproved of his seeing Mary, the broguemaker's daughter who lived in a small peasant house in the middle of town. Whilst Mary loved William, she knew that their union could never be, as it would force him to turn his back on his family and he would begin to regret the day he'd ever met her. She declined his offer of marriage.

WWilliam refused to give up. He wrote a song for Mary to try and convince her otherwise.

The pale moon was rising above the green mountains,
The sun was declining beneath the blue sea,
When I strayed with my love by the pure crystal fountain,
That stands in the beautiful Vale of Tralee.

She was lovely and fair as the rose of the summer,
Yet 'twas not her beauty alone that won me.
Oh no, 'twas the truth in her eyes ever dawning
That made me love Mary, the Rose of Tralee.

But Mary still refused to marry him.

The next evening, after attending a political rally in town, William went to visit Mary at West Villa and gave her a ring which he placed on her finger. Suddenly the door burst open and a friend of William's rushed in to inform him that William had been accused of the murder of a man at the rally. Two men had gotten into a fight and as leader of one of the rebel groups challenging the upcoming election, William had been held responsible. William's friend informed him there was a warrant out for his arrest and a reward of 100 gold sovereigns for finding him. He was told to make for Barrow Harbour and get on a wine ship that was leaving that night. William kissed Mary goodbye and told her he would return soon.

William made his way to India where he worked as a war correspondent. Here he met an officer from Limerick who asked William what had bought him to India. When William told him, the officer said he would use his influence to get William returned to Ireland, and to Tralee, a free man.

So in 1849, some six years after leaving Tralee, William returned. He stopped off at The King’s Arms in Rock Street for a drink before planning to visit Mary in nearby Brogue Lane. The landlord began to draw the curtains to mark the passing of a funeral coming down the street. On enquiring who the funeral was for, William was told it was for a local girl from Brogue Lane, a lovely and fair young woman named Mary O'Connor - the Rose of Tralee.

William was devastated and his heart broken. There was nothing left for him but to visit Mary's grave on the outskirts of town. The famine was at its height in Ireland at this time and most of the country's eight million inhabitants were trying to survive on a diet of potatoes alone.

William never got over Mary's death, and despite marrying and having children with an old flame, he refused to forget her.

William moved with his family to New York in 1849 but returned alone six years later to Tralee and lived the rest of his life on Ashe Street. He died in 1864 at the age of 44 and at his request was buried at the graveyard in Clogherbrien next to his true love Mary, the Rose of Tralee.

You can visit Mary O'Connor's grave at the graveyard in Clogherbrien by taking the Fenit road out of Tralee and the graveyard is on the right hand side.

[Special thanks to the Southern California Rose Center for this account.]

Committee Members
Anne Odenwald
Daren T. Wood (Webmaster)
Harry Carroll
Heather (Nordquist) Dominguez - Vice Chair
Heidi (Barry) Will - Vice Chair
Irene Boland
Jacqui Avery
Jim Daugherty
Julie O'Mahar
Kelly (Jantzen) Driscoll

Kelly Guffey
Mary Corcoran Wnek
Mary Rawe
Maryann O'Neil
Molly Niemann
Pamela Mangan
Sandra Carroll - Honorary Chairperson
Sarah Houghtelin
Steve Rawev
Trish Phelps
Valerie Walsh

There are many stories about the Claddagh ring. Claddagh itself refers to a small fishing village near Galway city. The ring has a design of a heart being encircled by a pair of delicate hands with a crown above the heart. In earlier times this design was the symbol of the "Fishing Kings of Claddagh" meaning 'in love and friendship let us reign'. In the 17th century the symbol was first depicted on a ring which became the fashionable exchange of friends or lovers. In marriage the heart was worn towards the wrist otherwise towards the fingertips.

The original Claddagh ring is generally attributed to one Richard Joyce, of Galway. Joyce departed from Claddagh, a small fishing village where the waters of the River Corrib meet Galway Bay, on a ship enroute to the plantations of the West Indies. The week he was to was to be married, his ship was captured by Mediterranean Algerian pirates and the crew were sold as slaves; Richard Joyce was sold to a Moorish goldsmith who trained him in his craft. He soon became a master in his trade and hand crafted a ring for the woman at home he could not forget. In 1689 he was released after William III came to the throne of England and concluded an agreement whereby all his subjects who where held in captivity by the Moors were to be allowed return to their homes. The Moorish goldsmith offered Richard his only daughter in marriage and half his wealth if he would remain in Algiers. He declined and returned to Claddagh to find that the woman of his heart had never married. He gave her the ring and they were married and he set up a goldsmith shop in the town of Claddagh. The earliest Claddagh rings to be traced bear his mark and the initial letters of his name, RI (Richard Joyce).

By tradition the ring is taken to signify the wish that Love and friendship should reign supreme. The hands signify friendship, the crown loyalty, and the heart love. The ring has become popular outside Connemara since the middle of the last century - its spread being helped by the vast exodus from the West during the great Famine in 1847-49. These rings were kept as heirlooms with great pride and passed from mother to daughter. Today, the ring is worn extensively across Ireland, either on the right hand with the heart turned outwards showing that the wearer is "fancy free" or with the heart turned inwards to denote that he or she is "spoken for". The pride of place is on the left hand, with the heart turned in, indicating that the wearer is happily married and the love and friendship will last forever, the two never separated.